More and more, service provider companies are figuring out how to digitize service and it will improve our lives in the not-so-distant future.

When I go home after work, the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer (maybe I’m getting old). Regardless, things turned ugly last night. My daughter’s heated argument with her brother started something like this, “What did you do? YOU were the last person using the Surface Pro and now it doesn’t work! I have to get my homework done! It’s your fault, not mine. Dad! Dad!”

Normally, I can defuse the situation with a reset or reboot, but not last night. This time, our internet was seriously crippled with intermittent connectivity, dropped packets and time-outs. Our home Wi-Fi network was down all night! No homework, no online games, no end-of-the-day iPad browsing for my wife…total chaos.

How digitization of service will improve your life

If this scenario sounds familiar to you, then I have some good news to share – digitization of service will dramatically improve our lives in the not-so-distant future. Within seconds, the “average” internet provider should automatically detect a service disruption to my household and create a “service ticket” on my behalf. Their system should also automatically call (or text) my phone to inform me, the account holder, of the problem. Even better, they would provide a projected resolution time, tell me what they are going to do and credit my account for the outage.

The role of the service provider

The “high-end” internet provider of tomorrow would do this, too, of course. Typically, however, they would fix the problem in advance! Their machine-learning algorithms would have predicted the connectivity failure by detecting small anomalies (via sensors) before my kids would have noticed and re-routed the traffic to avoid any disruption in service. Actually, the tools and technologies required to do this all exist today, but only a few companies like Sysmex and Cubic have put all the pieces together.

More and more, service provider companies are figuring out how to do this and soon everyone will be providing perfect service. Until then, I will continue to spend my nights and weekends fixing things that shouldn’t fail and impatiently waiting for payback time.

Do you have questions or comments about service digitization?

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About Tom Bowe

Industry Director, Enterprise Service Management

Tom Bowe was the Industry Director for Enterprise Service Management at IFS; he no longer works for IFS. Tom has an extensive background in service management. Most recently he headed up the Research and Development of the IFS Field Service…